Toasted hamburger buns, bagels and muffins are highly valued by consumers for many reasons. For example, toasting a bun results in a caramelizing effect on its interior surface that provides a pleasing appearance and taste. This caramelizing effect also effectively seals the interior surfaces thereby preventing the absorption of juices from the meat and other ingredients, such as ketchup and mustard, into the bun. Accordingly, with the advent of fast-food restaurants that serve sandwiches, devices that efficiently toast a large number of buns in a very short period of time have become desirable.
In response to this demand, devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,261,257 to Henderson et al. and 4,530,276 to Miller have been developed. These toasting devices both feature a housing containing a platen having two opposed heating surfaces. Conveyor belts are positioned on opposite sides of the platen and are spaced therefrom. The two halves of a bun are inserted into inlets at the top of the housing so that they are received into the spaces between the platen and the conveyor belts. The conveyor belts in turn slide the internal surfaces of the bun halves across the platen so that they are toasted. When the bun halves reach the bottom of the conveyor belts, they are disposed upon a tray at the outlet of the housing.
While devices such as those disclosed in Henderson et al. and Miller have proven to be effective in the restaurant industry, they primarily provide only toasting of the interior surfaces of the bun halves. This is a disadvantage in that, for many reasons, it is desirable to toast the exterior surfaces (i.e. the top and bottom) of a bun as well as heat the bun body internally. Heating the bun exterior surfaces and body provides a softer and warmer overall quality to buns that consumers find pleasing. Heating the entire bun, as opposed to just the interior surfaces, also keeps the sandwich contents warmer longer.
In addition, if the food item toasted is something other than typical bun halves, toasting only one side may not be sufficient. For example, many restaurants serve double or triple-decker sandwiches that feature a bun middle section with two interior surfaces or faces. It would be clearly preferable to toast both of these faces. The same can be said for situations where, instead of typical bun halves, the food items being toasted are bread slices. Accordingly, a device that heats both sides and the body of food items would have greater effectiveness and versatility.
As a result, devices such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,610 to Stuck have been developed. The device of Stuck includes the same features as the two patents discussed above but adds a pair of resistance-type auxiliary heaters that are positioned in proximity to the conveyor belts. While this addition allows both sides of a bun half or similar food item to be heated, the device still suffers from a number of limitations.
The auxiliary heaters of Stuck toast the exterior surfaces of a pair of bun halves by radiating heat through the wire conveyor belts. This occurs as the bun halves are slid along the centrally positioned platen. Accordingly, the interior surface of each bun half is heated by contact with the platen while the exterior surface of each bun half is heated by radiated heat from the auxiliary heaters. Any heating of the bodies of the bun halves, however, occurs only by conduction of the heat from the surfaces. As a result, the heating of the bodies of the bun halves is much less than optimal.
In addition, the arrangement of Stuck limits the temperature level of the auxiliary heaters. More specifically, if the temperature of the auxiliary heaters is set too high, the wire conveyor belts will heat up and burn the exterior surfaces of the bun halves. This results in burnt belt marks on the exterior surfaces of the buns which consumers find undesirable. Furthermore, in extreme cases, the wire conveyor belts could burn down deep so that the bun halves are unusable.
Limiting the temperature of the auxiliary heaters limits the speed at which the device may be operated. This is a very critical consideration in the fast-food industry—that industry depends on providing high quality products at extremely fast speeds. If the temperature of the auxiliary heaters could be increased without burning belt marks into the buns, the device could toast many more buns in a shorter period of time.
As many restaurants, including fast-food chains, have expanded their melt selections, a need has arisen for toasting devices that offer increased flexibility. More specifically, it is desirable that toasting devices accommodate thicker food items, such as muffins and bagels, in addition to the halves of sandwich buns.
The toasting devices of Henderson et al., Miller and Stuck suffer from limited flexibility in that they are able to accommodate only a narrow range of food item sizes. In each device, the spacing between the conveyor belts and the centrally positioned platen may be increased only slightly due to the size of the toasting device housing.
In response to the prior art difficulties, the present invention as well as the toasting devices of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,192,782 and 5,960,704, both to Agcaoili and March, the contents of which are both herein incorporated by reference, were developed. Moreover, the present invention represents an improvement from other prior art because of the speed in which the present invention toasts the food items. As noted above, in the fast food industry, toasting speed is a critical element to the business of food production. The faster the toasting process, the more quickly customers are served. However, it is equally as important to maintain the high quality toasting standards.
The prior art devices, generally, sacrifice toasting speed for quality—once the devices try to attain a certain toasting speed, the quality declines. For example, in the prior art devices, to maintain the toast quality for hamburger or sandwich buns, the toasting process requires approximately 35 seconds (for bagels and muffins, the toasting process requires even more time). Where the speed was reduced to below 35 seconds, the buns do not demonstrate a “completely toasted quality,” but rather the buns merely show a “browed” color. Such food items are not toasted thoroughly and never attain the caramelization necessary to seal the food item as described above. As such, prior art has not been able to develop a toaster device that can maintain the high quality of the slower processes at a high toasting speed.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved contact toaster that expediently toasts the interior and exterior surfaces of a food item.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved contact toaster that expediently and effectively heats a food item internally.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved contact toaster that may expediently, efficiently and completely toast a large number of food items in a short amount of time.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved contact toaster that may accommodate a wide variety of food item sizes.